Chinese Movie Site Sues Hollywood Group For Overstating Settlement Terms

from the itchy-trigger-finger dept

Fri, Mar 28th 2008 1:51pm — Mike Masnick

The motion picture industry has a habit of overstating its victories against copyright infringement. It appears that one Chinese firm is so upset about this that it's going back to court. The MPA (the international version of the MPAA) had sued the Chinese site Jeboo for distributing Hollywood movies online last year. Earlier this year, the studios and Jeboo reached a settlement, at which point the MPA announced triumphantly that Jeboo had stopped "infringing activities," had apologized and paid a substantial sum. Jeboo, however, said that the terms of the deal were confidential and as a part of the deal, the company absolutely did not admit to any illegal activity. To Jeboo, the MPA's announcement suggests otherwise, and therefore Jeboo is now back in court suing the MPA for its portrayal of the settlement. The MPA folks must be stunned. They've all gotten away with exaggerating for so long the idea that someone would call them on it (in court, no less) must be a surprise.

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Filed Under: china, exaggeration, mpa, settlement
Companies: jeboo

14 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 28 Mar 2008 @ 2:16pm

Now that's cinema.
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MD, 28 Mar 2008 @ 2:25pm

No Country For MPAA
Hmmm... I wonder if the MPA's lawyers explained to them what the term "confidentiality" meant? And if one side breaches the contract in terms of confidentiality, does that relieve the other side of its obligation to remain silent?
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Rose M. Welch, 28 Mar 2008 @ 7:50pm

Yep, in most cases...
...it does. Once the contract has been broken, it is void. There is no longer a contract. The MPA no longer has an obligation to follow the contract, unless there were provisions in place that say otherwise.
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Mouse, 29 Mar 2008 @ 5:15am

MPA
Does that mean they will have to give the money back and I hope they do. We are so used so suing in this country that maybe we forgot other countries take it a lot more serious than we do. Your word is your word and they splattered that everywhere. What part of "confidentiality" do they not understand? None evidently.
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troye a.k.a PDFman, 29 Mar 2008 @ 11:30am

YES, the MPAA finally get some coming to 'em.
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Lucretious, 30 Mar 2008 @ 9:27am

"jeBoo"?

sounds like a racial slur.....
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Charming Charlie, 30 Mar 2008 @ 9:48pm

This is an "only in China moment" where a group of people as large as a corporation are so worried about face and shame that they counter sue after settling because the other side made them look culpable.

When its just a man on the street giving you directions in the wrong direction because he's too afraid to admit he doesn't know it's just annoying.

But when it's a country/government refusing to accept the apologies of Japan for WW2 atrocities, or America for bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, it's a much weightier problem.

Chinese simply can't allow themselves to be embarassed because they think it's a zero-sum game. If you embarass a Chinese person, business, or China itself, be prepared to deal with the backlash. It will come, and it will come from some of the most minor and, to Westerners, surprising transgressions.

Concepts of simple forgiveness or ignoring are relatively foriegn. Imagining China a talk show ghetto-stereotype snaping it's fingers in the air going "uhh uhh, no you di'n't." All the time.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Mar 2008 @ 5:08am

Re:
So if I call them a bunch of chinkos can now expect some for of harsh retribution?
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ranjith, 14 Apr 2009 @ 10:44pm

Http://justnewmovies.com
yes, the chines movie are the hollywood cues and it is really a good , to watch the chine cues and it will be great to watch the movies
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shruthi, 16 Apr 2009 @ 10:21pm

http://justnewmovies.com
Well I think it’s really better than the ones I found on the net. At least this one is no longer a cam corder vide. It pixelates a bit but you can’t truly expect a 100% DVD quality on the web. It would be too large to upload.
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sonypinto, 16 Apr 2009 @ 11:00pm

free new movies
Hi guys,

here in this site chines movie are really a good action and horror. i like it.
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pavithra, 20 Apr 2009 @ 12:14am

free online movies
Hi,

Guys, Chinese Movie Site Sues Hollywood Group For Overstating the movies it is a good movie site.In this we can watch the horror movies.
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shruthi, 20 Apr 2009 @ 4:02am

freeonlinemovies
I found a great place to watch movies & videos. They have awesome search filters to help you find just the movie or show you are looking for. They search all of the major websites that host video.
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shazia, 20 Apr 2009 @ 9:39pm

free online movies
Hi,

Guys,So, I really don't have much hope that it will happen any time soon, remember that outside of the UK we still don't have TV shows or film sales on i tunes. I really don't think that rentals will come first...

Bye....
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